QT 3/21/2022 Matt 23:23-26, Are Christians actually Christians?

Matthew 23:23–26 (ESV) — 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

 

NOTE: Both of these woes (the fourth and fifth) represent misplace priorities. Goodness and righteousness is hardly measured by your tithing, but rather on the true qualities of a Christina witness -- justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Likewise, outwardly clean plates and utensils mean nothing if inwardly there is greed and self-indulgence. I live in an (maybe the) age of Laodicea where people in the church think they are rich (great; in need of nothing spiritual), but Jesus says they are poor, pitiful, blind, and naked. How can believer sbe poor, pitiful, blind, and naked? The only way is if people believe they are a Christians because of their Christian activities, but they in fact have never surrendered their lives to Jesus. Their focus of life is on themselves and being comfortable but spiritually there is no life within them. They are spiritually poor. Their eyes are still blinded to truth and eat up the worldview that the media presents to them. They don't have clothes of righteousness that come with being born again. They cover themselves with their works and activities. They are in John's words, pitiful.

 

PONDER:

1. Do I truly have the Holy Spirit within me (the guarantee of my sealing into the faith)?
2. Do I see my life changing from the inside out, and becoming more like Jesus?

 

PRAYER: Father, I pray for the Holy Spirit to convict the world of its sin, of your righteousness (which is so much different from the world), and of your coming judgment upon the world. The days grow shorter and many will be shocked that they are left behind because they were spiritually blind.